Syntactic Interactions with Information Structure in Squliq Atayal

Abstract

The present thesis investigates the syntactic interactions with information structure in Squliq Atayal, an Austronesian language in Taiwan. Information structure (i.e. i-structure) is a representation of discourse-pragmatic information at the sentence level in accordance with addressers’ mental states in given discourse-pragmatic contexts. By observing the interactions between syntax and information structure through both quantitative and qualitative evidence, the present thesis discovers that the syntactic structures of both unmarked and marked clauses in Squliq Atayal are formed not only for pure morphosyntactic motivations but also for discourse-pragmatic ones. The present thesis is composed of ten chapters. Chapter 1 is a brief introduction to the ethnic background of Squliq Atayal and the research questions of the present thesis. Chapter 2 reviews the research on information structure, topic, focus and topicality, as well as the studies on Squliq Atayal. In addition, this chapter elaborates the methodology of the present thesis, including data sources, the orthography and our theoretical framework, Lexical-Functional Grammar (LFG). Chapter 3 presents the basics of grammar of Squliq Atayal, which include the rigid word order Verb-Object/Oblique-Subject, case markers and multiple voices, with related theoretical discussion on the internal structure of c-structure and the lexically determined mapping between a-structure and f-structure. In Chapter 4, the theoretical model of feature-based discourse functions is proposed. There are four discourse features: givenness, aboutness, prominence and contrast, the values of which constitute twelve discourse functions in i-structure. In addition, the proposal of one-to-many mapping benefits the incorporation of gradience into LFG. Chapter 5 focuses on discourse evidence from topicality and information chaining. The former studies the topicality of subject, object, and oblique with the measurement proposed in Givón’s works. The latter looks into how a piece of information connects two adjacent sentences. It shows that new information is highly restricted by syntax. Chapter 6 identifies what discourse functions in i-structure the grammatical functions of subject, object and oblique correspond to. The conflict between quantitative discourse evidence from topicality and qualitative syntactic evidence from question-answer tests verifies the one-to-one general mapping between subject and continuing topic with the application of the conversion function, which further proves that Squliq Atayal is a quasi-f-structural language and that the multiple voice system in Squliq Atayal belongs to both the role-remapping voice system and the information-salience one in linguistic typology. Chapter 7 and 8 offer a general description of the properties of grammaticalized topics and grammaticalized foci respectively. Despite the complexity of the one-to-many mapping from grammatical functions to discourse functions, it is explained by the Informational Mapping Theory proposed in the present thesis, which directly establishes the mapping between f-structure and i-structure. Chapter 9 takes a diachronic perspective on the emergence of split-subjecthood in the Austronesian languages. By comparing Squliq Atayal and Tsou, it is hypothesized that split-subjecthood emerged from the shift of primary continuing topic from nominative subjects to oblique actors in NAV clauses. Chapter 10 summarizes the contributions of the present thesis and points out some issues for further research.